So you have just received your bonus, or have been saving your hard earned money, and you have decided to purchase either a brand new or second hand motorbike or car. Everything is working well at first, when it reached the point that you have to have it checked or something needs to be repaired.
What should you do?
Nowadays, scammers are rampant. They have different professions and ways to trick people and obtain their victim’s hard earned money. As such, you must be keen and wary. Below are some of Book2wheel‘s suggestions that one should keep in mind when having their motorbike or car repaired to avoid being scammed:
- Take your vehicle to someone you can trust (perhaps to a friend or a friend of your friend who knows how to repair a vehicle). If there is none, take it to a well-known motorbike or car shop. Big companies have small tendencies of fooling and tricking their clients as it may put their company’s name in trouble. However, that does not mean you are 100% safe with them. Whether you are taking your vehicle to a well-known, or to a not so well-known shop, your presence is a MUST (read the next bullet);
- When I say presence, you are not only physical present to watch them repair your vehicle, but you also take note of what they do;
- ASK. Ask for their assessment and what kind of work needs to be done. It is best that they provide a checklist of the issues found on your vehicle and the kind of work they will have to do including price quotation;
- Clearly ensure that if anything goes wrong with what they repaired, or if the problem of your vehicle got worse, they are responsible to do a back job and you will not shell out even a peso (dime or penny). If there is an agreement signed by both parties, the better;
- Ask for an official receipt. If work has started and you were informed that you will need to buy either a surplus or a brand new part of the vehicle, and someone in the shop will buy it for you, make sure to always ask for an official receipt, read carefully what they have bought, and keep the official receipt. Note that official receipt is different from a sales invoice. So if they provide to you the latter, do not accept it and demand for the former; and
- Trust your instincts.
Unfortunately, if you have already been scammed, go to the nearest Barangay Hall or Police station to file a complaint. You will be asked to provide:
- Name of company or person that scammed you;
- Address of the shop; and
- Detailed description of the incident.
I am not sure what police might do after filing a report, but with the barangay, they will be scheduling a hearing which you (complainant) and the complainee must attend. Hearing will be done three times and if complainee will not attend to any of those three, the case will be forwarded to the lower court. As much as possible, we do not want to reach this point as it is extremely draining and stressful.